Hello new to the board here I am thinking about getting the FZ30
I have had the Minolta Z1 for a few years and I am wanting to get a new
camera I have been playing with the other setting mainly the P Mode
for a while and a few other of the modes but mainly I always use the
Auto mode but lately finding that in P mode I can take better Pic's
in lower lighting, My question is how well does it work in just the Automatic

mode I know this will be a big improvement over my old Z1 and I have found my self being picky about how my photos turn out been getting a lot of blue tinting on my photos with the Z1, I use my printer to print my photos I have a canon IP6000D and it prints some amazing pictures not from my camera but from some I copyed off the web for comparison,

I have been also looking at the Canon S2 IS but really like the Panasonic

FZ30 I have read over 100 Pages on here the last few day and looking at photos of the FZ30 But not many of the post mention takeing photos in

Auto mode, I have read were the S2 IS canon does very well in Auto mode, I like the manuel focus ring on the FZ30 althought I have never

used a focus ring before, as far as noise is concerned I have never printed

any thing bigger than a 8x10 half my pics will be in door and half out door, My wife uses the camera also so the auto setting will have do do a better

then the Z1 I have now, I can figure out uising the other setting.
thanks for any inputs

Hi LTR, thanks for visiting Camera Labs... I recently tested the FZ30 and will be writing a full report of it in the next week or so. In the meantime, you can see the technical results for it in the current Sony R1 review, along with the R1, the Fujifilm S9500 / S9000 and the Canon EOS-350D / Digital Rebel XT.

The final FZ30 review will feature photos taken mostly with its Program mode.

I have had mine for about a week also I agree that the flash is a little strong I mainly print my photos with a printer, I need a new printer
that i can refill cartridges on, but i really like the camera easy to use
just need to practice to get sharper images over all i like the camera
it focuses in low light real well that was one of my concerns,I have a canon printer right now IP6000D i have been refilling the ink tanks for about a year it is a 6 color printer im looking at the MP500 Canon printer
i want to get away from the 6 color. I have have a old HP Printer and it does a better job at prints and it is only a 3 color, The canon's now have 3 color I just have to find the right compatable ink for refilling If i can refill then it just isnt worth it. Good luck with the camera post back here again i look here every day this is a new web site so lets try to pick it up a little

still trying to decide between fz-7 and fz-30, in terms of "fast and accurate". had enough of the s2 with slow focus and the worst of all
"misses" most of the time when in full zoom, the picture quality might be better on the s2, but need to find out the difference between the two pan.
well, i will mainly use the "auto mode" in general.